


River Flow

by violet569



Category: Naruto
Genre: AO3 Tags - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst and Feels, BAMF Uchiha Obito, Emotional Hurt, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Haruno Sakura is So Done, Hatake Kakashi Is Trying, How Do I Tag, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Mild Gore, Mild Language, Nohara Rin Lives, Obito's To Be Exact, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Hatake Kakashi, POV Uchiha Obito, Redemption, So Is Obito, Tags Contain Spoilers, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Uchiha Obito-centric, Well He's Technically Pronounced Dead, You'll See For That One, all day every day, i forgot, missing nin Obito, no beta we die like men, omg there's a tag for that, what is even tagging
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:15:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22683097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violet569/pseuds/violet569
Summary: Obito was dying. Dying after trying to save the only people who could stop what he'd done.Key word: Trying.He'd failed, and died knowing that the end of the world was his fault and there was no way to fix it.That's when he'd woken up with an all encompassing but familiar ache in a long forgotten cave, with the statue of the ten-tails looming over him.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Nohara Rin & Uchiha Obito, Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Obito, Nohara Rin & Uchiha Obito, None romantic, if any, yet
Comments: 52
Kudos: 318





	1. Chapter 1

He'd made a mistake. A grave one. One that would cost him his life in less than a minute. Obito could feel the Juubi's scorching chakra coursing through his chakra coils, burning him from the inside out. He was foolish to think he could contain the manifestation of all the biju's chakra plus an eye of the rinnegan for long. He hadn't been in training since birth to be able to hold a biju like Kushina, and he hadn't been nearly well enough prepared for the burden it induced. His chakra coils weren't wide enough to accommodate such a large strain consistently, not to mention that the Juubi was rejecting its container. Meaning that instead of a smooth transfer of chakra from tenant to host, it was choppy like an untamed sea in a wild storm, not that he'd ever seen the ocean. Unfortunately though, it wasn't the main reason why he was on death's doorstep.

In the beginning, it was agonizing to have the corrosive chakra thrumming through his coils rapidly, feeding into the gaping hole where his stomach should have been. It bisected his torso into two separate halves, and the foreign, hostile chakra was damaging him almost as much as it tried to stitch his body back together. It was the only reason he was still alive, but he knew it was useless. He could heal from many things regularly, with the biju's chakra even more so, but not after being torn in two. He'd taken Kaguya's attack head on to protect Kakashi, but it'd gone through him like he was wet paper and done the same to Kakashi, plowing through him and killing him instantly. Now Obito was paying the price.

His chest stuttered, and blood bubbled sickeningly from his mouth, dribbling down to his jaw. The taste of iron stained his tongue permanently now. He wasn't sure whether it was due to his own blood slowly filling his lungs or the red he'd spilled.

Frankly he'd have thought that death would have been more painful than this was. A stab of pain from where a kunai pierced his heart, the intense searing pain from a katon jutsu, or even the squeeze of his chest on fire as water filled his lungs. This was none of that. This was a spreading of cold through his limbs, an encroaching numbness working its way towards center mass.

He'd thought he would have been more angry. Anger towards who'd done him in, fury at whoever thought they'd had the right. He felt nothing. Only painful resignation which hurt worse than any wound, even this one. He'd brought this upon himself with his deep seeded hatred and rage that he'd kept close to his heart, but burrowed beneath the layers of pain that had developed after Kakashi killed Rin… No, that wasn't right, was it? The hurt wrapped in blind justification was what started it all, but the source, he'd had that wrong all along. Kakashi hadn't killed Rin. Rin commit suicide, and Kakashi just so happened to be the means she chose to go by. There was still ache where Rin's death left a hole in Obito's heart, but it was about time he stopped blaming Kakashi for it. He saw how much his friend—could he even call himself Kakashi's friend after what Obito had put him through?—beat himself up for it already.

Too little, too late, seemed to be a constant in Obito's life.

He hadn't wanted to go out this way. He'd wanted his death to make a difference, to save someone for a change. To make a difference, a good difference. Instead he got Kakashi killed and Sasuke and Naruto heavily wounded. Without them Kaguya will win, and it really would be all Obito's fault.

His fault that the war started. His fault that the jinchuriki were hunted and killed. His fault that so many innocent lives died. His fault he had to put another generation through war and made them fight. His fault Kakashi had ended up alone. His fault his fault his fault…

Funny how death could make one think about things he hadn't considered before, like regret. Regret that he'd never grown out of his naive headstrong personality, even when he thought he had, and let it control him under the guise of something other than what it truly was. Regretted how he'd let Kakashi, Rin, and Minato down. He had. Regret that he'd let the whisperings of a known traitor turn him against his team, his _family_. Regret that he'd been more focused on Rin's attention and his one-sided rivalry with Kakashi that he'd lost sight of his sense of self without them. Because he had. It was so clear that'd he'd been so focused on clinging to any form of attention he could scrounge up, that he'd left behind true self betterment in favor of the recognition that was always out of reach.

Obito officially hated regrets.

There was a flash of chakra to his right, and he managed to drag up enough energy through the spreading numbness to tip his head in it's direction. It should have been alarming how fast he was fading, but he could feel the cold settling into his bones and knew that it wouldn't be long now. He'd either die by the enemy coming towards him or he'd bleed out before they reached him.

But it wasn't an enemy at all. It was the pink haired shinobi that was Naruto's friend. Sakura, if he remembered correctly. She was a medic nin with temperment of a jostled beehive and the skill to keep the two most sacrificial people he'd ever met alive. Naruto was reckless enough for all of them. They were allies in the fight against Madara, albeit desperate ones, and he didn't trust her as far as he could throw her, but he could give respect where it was due. But something was wrong. He could tell immediately, it was all in her demeanor and posture, he just didn't know what.

Catching sight of him her face twisted into something he didn't have the energy to put a name to, and picked up her pace. His instincts screamed urgently at him, but he couldn't muster enough energy to do anything about it. Her eyes dragged along Kakashi as she passed, but she didn't stop until she practically crumpled at Obito's side in a heap. That's when he registered what was wrong. There was too much blood coating her head to toe for it to all have been hers, and there were tear tracks cutting through the grime on her cheeks. Something bad happened, and he had a sinking feeling as to what it was.

Obito most likely would have said something had his limbs not been going numb. He didn't know if it would have been scathing, reassuring, or taunting, but it was probably best to not find out. It was almost unnerving having what had so far been a pillar of strength reduced to such a state. But war does that. He'd done that, and whatever bad had happened was because of his actions. Actions be could never take back.

Sakura swallowed harshly before saying, "You better fix this. Naruto," she choked out his name like it was physically painful, which it very well could have, "Kami rest his soul—" Oh. "—trusted _you_ of all people for this." Her lips began to tremble, and a fresh wave of tears slipped down her face creating new paths as she placed her shaking palms on his forehead. But all he could think was that the world's last hope was dead, and he'd been the cause. "So— so you better not fuck this up."

Obito's hearing was becoming spotty at best, and his vision blurry, but he couldn't have missed how the diamond on her head sprouted black lines that arked down her face and wrapped around her limbs. There was a pulse where their skin met, and it was warm and comforting. There was a soft itching where his forehead sat beneath her palms, an itching he distantly recognized as the beginnings of a free-handed seal. He wouldn't mind going out with a feeling like this, even if he couldn't identify it beyond warm. As his eyes drifted close, he heard something that sounded suspiciously like "Or else". Damn healers and their threats. He didn't even know what it was for.

Everything became oddly still, when all things drifted away from him. No sight, no hearing, no feeling, nothing. Not even the taste of dirt and blood in his mouth, before a small hand slipped into his, feminine and thin. He knew exactly who it belonged to without even looking. "Rin."

"Oh Obito, what did you do this time?" Her soft voice came from in front of him, but he couldn't pry open his eyes to meet hers.

He wrapped his grown, calloused hands over her smaller one, and was painfully reminded of how young she'd been when she died. How she'd had everything taken from her because Madara had wanted him. His voice was the barest hint of a whisper when he said, "I'm sorry."

Rin's other hand cupped his cheek, bushing her thumb along his skin. "I know. I know you are. It's not okay though. I can't forgive you for what you've done, not yet, but I'll be waiting for you when you've done better. When you've fixed things. So don't make the same mistakes this time, okay?"

All Obito could manage was a small, confused, "What?" before there was an unknown hand ruffling his hair, and a feeling of pure power pouring into his being. Hot like liquid fire and eerily like the Juubi's chakra that he'd housed in life, except not nearly as volatile.

"I trust with this you'll know what to do?" That was a man's voice. He'd never heard the man before, but somehow he innately knew that this was the Sage of Six Paths. The hand left his hair, and Rin pulled away. He reached out towards her with a desperate need, trying to grasp anything because he was dead and _he wanted to see her again_.

"You're not dead yet, you silly goose. Now do me a favor and live."

Then he was waking up with an all encompassing but familiar ache in a long forgotten cave.

For a moment, Obito just laid there on his back, staring at the rocky ceiling. Was he dreaming? Doubtful. Had Sakura put him under a genjutsu? No, there was no reason for her to do that. Regardless, he'd been in the pure lands—though he hadn't truly seen it. A place he'd thought he'd never reach, but then it was torn away from him. Did that mean this was hell? Maybe, but then Rin's words didn't make sense, and neither did the Sage's presence.

He pushed himself up with groan, pain lancing through his mismatched arms, which is when he noticed something wet sliding down his right cheek. He brushed it with his hand, and it came away red. The red tinge to the edges of his vision told him that he had the sharingan activated, but the sharingan didn't ordinarily bleed like that. Then again it didn't feel like his ordinary sharingan.

It felt more like his mangekyo sharingan.

Which didn't make sense because he already had his mangekyo. He had the memories for it's first manifestation, so why was his body acting like it'd just activated it for the first time?

Something clicked into place.

Fix. Both Sakura and Rin used that word. Through Sakura, Naruto was trusting Obito to fix something. Rin wanted him to fix things. But fix what was the question?

The seal Sakura put on his forehead— his weaker body— his "new" mangekyo. The only reason he was even considering it was because of Minato's Flying Thunder God technique which was essentially a space-time seal. _Seal_ , probably similar to the one Sakura had etched in chakra to Obito's forehead. With enough chakra from her… He could essentially traverse time and space.

If only his mind and chakra were transported, which was likely considering he only had one eye and could still feel the faint lingering of Sakura's chakra in his coils, then his sharingan evolving into his mangekyo right now made sense. The evolution relied upon a traumatic event happening, and since he already possessed the memory, then the moment his body realized that it had all it needed, his eye would naturally take its course. Which meant—

Rin was still alive.

Obito's insides twisted into a knot, tightening until it was almost painfully uncomfortable. He could save her. Save Rin and Kakashi. Rin wouldn't commit suicide, and Kakashi wouldn't tear himself inside out, but… They weren't the ones who knew. It wouldn't stop him from saving them, but they couldn't forgive what he'd done because it hasn't happened yet. Minato and Kushina didn't die by his hands yet, he didn't take control of the Mizukage yet, didn't become Tobi, didn't awaken the Gedō Mazō, didn't plunge the world into a fourth war, didn't kill over half the population yet yet _yet_. Minato and Rin and Kakashi and everyone that mattered in Konoha would welcome him back with open arms and wide smiles and— It left a sour taste in his mouth.

He wasn't the Obito they knew. Not anymore. He'd done things their Obito would never even remotely consider doing. In turn, they weren't his to embrace as his own.

A chill shot up his spine, and an unwelcoming gaze fell upon his back. He knew this gaze. Thought proudly of it before, but no more. He was no one's puppet.

He deactivated his mangekyo sharingan—an odd feeling as he hadn't done that in years—and subtly whipped the blood off his cheek, praying that his longer hair hid the seal that was most likely visible on his forehead, and turned his head.

Behind him, through gruesome and twisting life-supporting wires that spiraled backwards was Madara Uchiha, just as pale and brittle as he had been the first time. The old man's single rinnegan eye was fixed onto Obito, and it made his skin crawl. Anger bubbled in his chest, threatening to escape through his throat, but he swallowed it down. If he was going to prevent Kaguya from coming back, he had to keep his anger in check. He couldn’t let the other know he wasn’t following his plan. Madara was one of four things that had to go. That, and Obito could really use a right eye. Revealing that he was getting heated would only make things worse for himself.

Obito's eye slid to the wires sustaining Madras's life. As much as he'd like to make Madara suffer by his hands, just… unplugging him would be safer and quicker. Something told Obito that he was running out of time, so the quicker option would have to do. His gaze trailed up the wires until they hit where they were connected to the Gedō Mazō—

His body felt like it caught fire.

Obito hunched over, tearing his eye away from the statue as molten lava scorched his chakra coils but it was too late. His insides burned with an uncontrolled heat, and if he were of a lesser mind, he would have been screaming his throat raw. Even though the pain was new to this body, his mind remembered, and he resisted uttering a single sound. It burned so intensely he thought he'd pass out, but realization chilled him to his core, nearly snuffing out the fire flowing through him.

A roar only he could hear rattled his bones. It's sound was recent in memory, like he could ever forget it, caught between a shrill cry and deep thrum. In seconds he plunged into his inner world that closely resembled his pocket dimension, and was greeted by the screaming Juubi behind bars, a seal that undoubtedly matched the one on his forehead, seared into the lock.


	2. Chapter 2

Obito couldn't believe his eyes. Well, he could, but it was a hard pill to swallow. He was the ten-tails jinchuriki once more, but it didn't make any sense. It seemed like only his mind and chakra had been transported, not the Juubi's. That would have required a second seal, unless…

He wasn't a fuinjutsu master by any stretch of the imagination. But Naruto was, and Sakura said that Naruto was trusting Obito to fix the past. If anyone could create a seal that both bound the Juubi to him and sent him back, it was Naruto. Of course Sakura, with her pinpoint chakra control and unwavering faith in Naruto, would have been the one the blond entrusted his seal with in death.

_Death_ , oh kami.

In this time, Naruto hadn't even been born yet, had he? He'd been ~~will be~~ born the day of the Kyuubi attack, the one Obito caused. Will cause ~~won't cause~~ . The one that killed ~~_won't_ ~~ Kushina and Minato. If ~~when~~ he didn't free the nine-tails this time around, would Naruto still grow up to be the same person he was before? Would he still inherit the fox when Kushina died?

Obito felt like he was losing it, and the massive chakra manifestation wailing like a banshee wasn't helping.

He felt a half-hysterical laughter climbing up his throat, chest constricting painfully. What was he even doing? What was he even _supposed_ to be doing? Fix the past? _Him?_ What had Naruto been thinking? Better yet, why had Sakura—the most logical of the three—gone along with it? Hell, why send the one thing they were trying to prevent _earlier_ in time? Even if the Juubi had reverted back to its first turtle-like form, it just meant that the tailed beast was that much more desperate for chakra. Considering it was Naruto, he probably expected Obito—the same person who brought the end of the world down upon everyone—to befriend the writhing, seething mass of chaos. But he wasn't Naruto. He killed rather than saved, destroyed rather than created, and he couldn't befriend a being that had only known hate it's entire existence, because he was one too.

That was Naruto. His Naruto. One that would probably never exist unless he made all the same mistakes again.

A little voice in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Kakashi's, said, _If it didn't work out the first time, why do it the same at all?_

Obito paused at that. The people here would undoubtedly never become the people he'd known, but it wasn't for his comfort or well-being that he needed to fix things, even if the guilt of it all weighed like the sky on his shoulders. It was for _theirs_. Their comfort, their safety, their happiness. He was the sacrifice they needed to make, to ensure that as many people as possible would be saved.

" _The sacrifice of a few for the good of many_ ," wasn't that right Lord Third?

A screech tore him from his thoughts and the towering Juubi body slammed the cage bars again, rattling them, but they showed no sign of even being bent. It reeled back and did it again, and for one, unhinged second, Obito screamed back.

The Juubi stilled, and for a moment it stared at him with its one rinne sharingan eye, as if stunned that a creature as small as Obito would dare challenge it, before it started back up again. A migraine Obito didn't even know he had slid to the forefront of his mind as he tried to reign back his control. The chakra he didn't want still flooded his coils, burning him, but this time it was… not softer. Milder, like the heat on a stove had been turned down from "searing" to "extra hot" (for a slightly frenzied second he wondered if stoves had been invented yet. He was pretty sure they had). The only positive he could see at the moment, was that his chakra was just fiery enough from being an Uchiha to cover up the Juubi's chakra. Unfortunately, he couldn't disguise the amount of chakra that was flowing though his coils until he studied it more.

Obito pulled himself out of his inner world as if he was wading through molasses. His mind ached from a combined migraine and constant ringing in his ears from the beast. He almost missed when Madara's gaze landed on his back once more, and he forced himself not to stiffen when he realized it. When Obito had been in this position before, he hadn't noticed being watched this much. Then again he'd been naive and careless when he was younger. Never again.

Obito stretched his arms out above and behind him, the picture of nonchalant from practice as Tobi. He was fairly sure he could decently portray his younger self, though it had been a while since he'd acted more like Naruto in personality. He wasn't sure how long until he'd have to wait until he was told Rin was in trouble, but he needed to be ready without drawing suspicion to himself more than he probably already was

If he recalled correctly, it was Tobi—who he'd always called Guruguru for some odd reason—who had been scouting and came back with news about Rin. He'd almost forgotten about Tobi and White Zetsu. They'd been his company while down here, clones from the Gekko Mazda. Part of him wanted them to live, but the larger, more hardened part of him couldn't take any chances that Kaguya could be revived. Both they and Black Zetsu also had to go, the statue being another. Just thinking about Tobi though… Did Obito have a right to take his name this time? Better yet, was he going back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves?

A sharp pang reverberated in his chest at the thought of his once home. No, he wouldn't be going back there. It wasn't his home anymore. His heart wasn't in it.

_His heart_.

Shit, Obito had forgotten about the slave seal Madara had put on his heart. That was going to be an issue considering he couldn't destroy it himself. The seal physically wouldn't let him, so he needed to find a way to destroy it as quickly as possible if he wanted to actually be able to kill Madara and Black Zetsu. The best way to destroy the seal would be to stab his heart. The combined Motukon and Juubi chakra should be enough to keep him alive, or revive him if necessary. There was nothing he could do to it while stuck in here, but the first time he'd be able to exit the cave was for Rin—… Well. That might work.

Obito was a person who planned for everything. Every mistake, deviation or contingency he accounted for in his planning and created something to counter it. Except for Naruto. He hadn't planned on Naruto, and after him, Obito could feel his rigid mindset of planning for everything starting to slip away. The prime example being that he didn't have a plan for what to do once he'd killed Madara and Zetsu, destroyed the Gekko Mazda, and saved Rin.

Rin. The seal. _The three tailed beast_. Kami, he was really losing his touch.

His Kakashi told him that her seal had been faulty, driving her to seek out Konoha so that it could break and release the Sanbi within the village. If he was going to save Rin, he had to do something about the seal, or—the beginnings of an idea started to form—something about the three-tails. The idea was next to impossible but… He'd been sent back in time with the Juubi sealed into him. Anything was possible at this point.

Obito stood up from the surface that he'd been sleeping on and ran through a few stretches that had probably been apart of his regimen. The arm created by Hashirama's cells was a little stiff, but that was understandable. His younger self may not have noticed, but he did. It was obvious after so many years of living with it before. It was new and not yet fully integrated with his body. He scowled, knowing that would change over time, but still couldn't shake the feeling that that despite the time he'd been given, he had none left. Since he had no way of knowing, all he could do at this point was prepare.

Putting his back to Madara (it made his spine itch knowing he willingly gave an enemy his back), Obito allowed his mangekyo sharingan to activate, tinting the edges of his vision red while his eye's sight sharpened. Something about the activation rubbed him the wrong way. It was too smooth and consumed too little chakra for being physically new. He didn't want to push the feeling away, but he needed to focus on testing his abilities, so he put it aside. He didn't dare try to warp anywhere for obvious reasons, but that didn't mean he couldn't test out his usual use of Kamui. He crouched down, making sure his back was blocking Madara's view, before thrusting his hand into the ground. It slid through the ground with ease, like he was just sticking his hand in the air rather than through solid rock. Just the way he liked it.

Obito pulled his hand out and deactivated his mangekyo, not wanting to test his luck, and sat down to disguise his action of crouching. He crossed his legs, falling into a meditation pose. He needed to wrangle the Juubi's chakra somewhat under control before it burned his chakra coils too badly and damaged them permanently. If that were to happen he could kiss his Kamui goodbye, not to mention his largest advantage in changing the future.

The weight of what he had to do reasserted itself on his shoulders, and the world around him felt a little colder as he began meditating.

-

Obito was ripped out of his meditation by a familiar shout.

"Huh? What's going on, Guruguru?" He said, sounding innocent but worried.

Tobi was partially fazed through the nearby wall. "I just went outside for a minute and saw that Rin person you keep talking about! She's in serious trouble!"

Obito couldn't believe how stupid he'd been. He'd never even described Rin to them, but a wave of deja Vu had him jumping up accordingly, adrenaline beginning to pump through his veins. "What happened?"

"She and that Kakashi guy are surrounded by a bunch of Hidden Mist shinobi!"

_Kakashi_. A spike of fear lanced through his chest because somehow, in the heat of the moment, he'd forgotten that Kakashi's only role hadn't been to kill Rin, but to rescue her. That single thought threw his plans of subtlety out the window.

_If it didn't work out the first time, why do it the same at all?_

Obito set his jaw. No going back. He activated his mangekyo sharingan, and between one second and the next, the area around him twisted and he was gone, seeing only the briefest surprise flitting across Tobi's face before reappearing where he'd held Rin's lifeless body the first time. In a silent vow to the girl he'd once known, he promised that there wouldn't be a second time.

He scanned his surroundings. It was overcast, making it hard to tell what time of day it was. The grey clouds promised rain, and although they hadn't released it yet, it wouldn't be long. He was in clearing in the forest, rocks of all sizes scattered about, giving ample cover if needed. Not like he needed it. He was early, so there was no shinobi yet, and the fighting hadn't begun, so there was time to find a cloak rather than fight in only shorts. Or maybe… It was worth a shot, but he could only do it when he was ready to give his position away. Until then, he followed where he could feel the Sanbi's chakra like a beacon, and hid himself away in the bow of a tree, suppressing his chakra with practiced ease. He'd have to time his entrance perfectly so that it didn't leave both himself, Kakashi, and Rin prone to a few dozen Hidden Mist shinobi.

It wasn't long before he could feel both the Sanbi's and Rin's chakra that were battling with one another, getting closer, and Kakashi's chakra fluctuating wildly— wait what? Obito popped his head up to spot Rin moving at a shinobi's pace, Kakashi's arm thrown over her shoulder looking like he was about to drop. Obito frowned. That couldn't be right. It wasn't like that before. Now, Kakashi was on borderline chakra exhaustion, far too low for him to perform another jutsu, let alone another chidori. Had something Obito done already changed the past?

Pain flared through his empty socket and he grit his teeth, before a shaky image appeared in his mind. Crystal clear forestry zipping away as shadows of shinobi closed in, and then it was gone as fast as it'd came. In an instant Obito knew what happened. Kakashi inadvertently shared his sight. Obito had awakened the mangekyo sharingan, meaning that so had Kakashi. It was a miracle the Hatake was even moving in his exhausted state.

Mist shinobi flashed by, gaining on Rin and Kakashi, but Obito held still until he felt the rear guard pass by. Then he lunged.

With a simple maneuver he twisted the shinobi's neck, snatching up their kunai pouch before they even fell and kept running. He flipped open the pouch and promptly threw two at the nearest enemy who went down with two kunai to the back of the head. Movement in his peripherals caught his attention, and he lifted a kunai just in time for him to block a tantō from beheading him. Metal sang on metal before Obito slipped right through the shinobi, catching them off balance long enough for him to sink his kunai into the back of their unprotected neck.

He spun around and threw a kunai at the next closest shinobi, but he wasn't quite used to his younger, smaller body, and missed, nailing the enemy nin in the shoulder instead of between the ribs where the heart was. They stumbled, and two more shinobi who noticed stopped, darting after Obito the moment they spotted him. They threw a handful of shuriken at him, and it was only because he had his sharingan activated and was looking for it that he saw the sebon hidden in the shurikens' shadows. Damn the Kiri weather, and once it began raining it would only get worse.

Obito activated Kamui, letting the projectiles pass right through him, before deftly snatching one out of the air and flinging it back. The shuriken cut a sharp grove across one of their masks, but they didn't even falter. Kamui activated once again, teleporting him behind the two and slamming the sharp end of a kunai into each of their necks. Blood sprayed everywhere on him but he didn't have time to waste, using Kamui to let the injured third shinobi's tantō slip through him like wind and cut into their allies instead. If the shinobi was bothered by it, they didn't show it. Obito bent around them, yanking the kunai from their injured shoulder and immediately burying it between their ribs when they turned, piercing their heart. They dropped, dead, and he only took enough time to grab another weapon pouch before dashing after Kakashi and Rin.

Obito picked off a few more enemies from behind, only receiving a few shallow cuts in return when he reached the sounds of fighting. He'd thinned the crowd, but not completely. Not only had he not had time to, if he had, he wouldn't be able to follow through with his potentially dangerous and most certainly life threatening plan. Wow, he was sounding more like Naruto every minute (a part of him whispered that maybe being like Naruto wasn't so bad).

Obito hid behind a rock, peeking around the edge. The Kiri nin had engaged his previous teammates. Rin was holding her own, and it was obvious that they were beginning to overpower her, but Kakashi was barely holding on. His movements were the slowest Obito had ever seen, and his fighting sloppier than it'd been as a genin. More importantly, Kakashi was losing.

A protective surge washed over Obito, and he strained not to jump to Kakashi's aid, make sure that he couldn't get hurt, wouldn't ever be hurt again, but the logical part of him held back. Obito needed to enact the plan for his seal, and for that, he needed to wait.

It was barely a minute later before he knew that if he waited any longer he'd regret it. He couldn't help but whisper, "It's showtime," as he dragged the ten-tails' chakra to the surface, a cloak of pure power enveloping him like the way it had in the fourth war, and jumped into the fray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I've actually ever written a fight scene before so here ya go. Hope it's decent enough. Idk when the next chapter will be.


	3. Chapter 3

Obito would have liked to say that his plan to rid himself of his heart seal worked. Technically, it had, but not in the way he'd meant it to.

He'd meant to get stabbed in the heart by a Kiri nin while fighting. Obviously, that hadn't happened.

It had started out well enough. He'd jumped into the fighting, the attention of everyone snapping onto him as if he was magnetic. The Mist shinobi flew at him like moths to a flame and one by one he cut them down. He had accounted for the fact that the rippling chakra cloak would hide his identity, which it seemed to do, and make him appear to be the main threat, which it did. What he hadn't accounted for was that the Juubi would fight back so _hard_. The ten-tails' chakra burned his skin, making it peel away like the Kyuubi's had on Naruto before the blond managed to befriend them, and his chakra coils ached, strained from the sheer amount of chakra flowing through them. This hadn't happened the first time he'd been the ten-tailed jinchuuriki. Then again he had a different body before. And a different seal. He'd need an expert to know what this new one did.

A tantō sailed through him and Obito turned tangible just long enough to deck the Kiri shinobi in the face with a chakra enhanced first, their mask shattering under the force. He felt the crunch of bone beneath his knuckles and the enemy went flying. He let a barrage of kunai and a suiton dragon slip through him, then he closed in on the one who'd sent the jutsu, sweeping their feet out from under them and driving a stolen tantō through their sternum and into the ground. For a split second, Obito checked his senses for chakra, noting seven or eight enemy signatures left (he'd have to refine it later), and turned towards them. Rin was fighting three, only just managing to skim by with them landing non-lethal blows, but still bad injuries if left unattended. Kakashi on the other hand was only against one and was sporting at least two near-lethal injuries. The other four were headed Obito's way.

Obito was an Uchiha, and running through the hand signs to call up a Great Fireball Jutsu was as easy as breathing.

Flames rushed like a comet towards his enemies, and only two managed to escape it's path of destruction. The other two screamed, pain echoing through the air. At their dwindling numbers and screaming allies, one of the Kiri nin facing Obito hesitated for a fraction of a second, but that was all he needed. In an instant, Obito was on top of them with Kamui, slitting their throat with a kunai and immediately went after the other. They flashed through hand signs, but they weren't nearly fast enough to out speed the sharingan. Dog first, so suiton then. The mist condensed into droplets and flew at him like bullets. Unfortunately for them, Obito had Kamui, and the water bullets dug dozens of small trenches into the earth, passing harmlessly through him. He knocked their weapon out of their hand with a well placed strike, did a quick spin to drive his heel into their side and slammed them into a nearby tree.

Obito spared a glance towards Rin, who had amazingly taken down two of the three but was now stuck in a stalemate, then Kakashi who was doing little better than before. Obito was planning on leaving them to their own devices for a moment more to check for others, when he heard it. The sound of a thousand chirping birds that'd been burned permanently into his memory.

_Chidori_.

Panic flooded Obito's system. Firstly because Kakashi shouldn't have had enough chakra to perform that jutsu without putting him on death's door (which the bastard evidently was doing). Secondly because that noise had been ingrained into his nightmares, and thirdly because _Rin was moving to jump into it_.

Obito's Kamui spun and he teleported behind Kakashi's enemy shinobi with desperation in his blood, slipping through them until he was in range and— 

In a shimmering twisting of reality, Rin was warped into his pocket dimension. Pure and unadulterated relief filled his every pore because _he'd saved her_.

But it was short-lived as Kakashi's chidori tore straight through Obito's heart and impaled the shinobi behind him, killing the Kiri nin instantly.

The first droplet of rain hit Obito's nose, and with a shallow cough of blood as the clouds opened up to pour down on them, all he could think was, _Oh. This is what dying is supposed to feel like_.

  
  
  
  
  


Kakashi had known something was wrong the moment a scorching pain made itself known in his left eye— _Obito's_ eye (it would never be his. Always Obito's. His left eye had been discarded beneath a cave-in). The memory of Obito's scared but reassuring smile from beneath the rubble surfaced to the forefront of his mind, and his throat dried up instantly, but he forcefully pushed it away before it could drag him under. His mission was to rescue Rin. He couldn't afford to think about Obito (he was always thinking about Obito and the promise Kakashi had made to him. He couldn't fail another teammate).

He'd been in the middle of scouting the perimeter, on high alert and muscles taut, when the pain in his— _Obito's_ eye sent him doubling over, scrambling for purchase on the branch he crouched on. Belatedly, he realized something wet was sliding down his left cheek, which made him pause because it wasn't raining, so he brushed the liquid away and the tips of his finger came away red. Panic spiked in his chest and he automatically suppressed it. Breath in, breath out. Look at the facts.

The sharingan he possessed was bleeding. From what? Unknown. Examine further.

Kakashi examined his surroundings. No chakra or anything out of place, so he hopped down to look at his reflection in a puddle. The person who stared back looked tired, dirty, exhausted, and definitely didn't have the sharingan. Instead of the two tomoes he'd gotten used to, there was an odd, sharp, shuriken-like pattern instead. It was also draining more chakra than before which was going to be problematic. He didn't have the largest chakra reserves to begin with, and this would strain the limited amount he had after two days of near non-stop tracking.

Kakashi didn't know what it was or if it could be reverted back to its original form, but he was going to try. Theoretically, he knew how to activate and deactivate the sharingan. Chakra is fed into the coils by the eyes and the sharingan activates. He merely didn't know if the same applied to a permanently active sharingan like his. Not his _it's_ _Obito's_ —

Breath in. Breath out.

He focused, channeling chakra away from his eye. He couldn't get all of it, but managed to divert enough to where he felt the change of it reverting back into… He looked into the puddle. Back into the three tomoe sharingan, apparently. He didn't know if it would happen again, so he needed to limit his chakra expenditure from that eye. As a temporary solution, he pulled the left side of his leaf headband down and over his eye. There was still a small trickle of chakra feeding it, but not nearly as much as before, so Kakashi counted it as a win.

He jumped back into the trees, scanning for chakra signatures once more. He wasn't specifically a sensor, but he wasn't called a genius for nothing (though the word genius generally was an antonym for stable). He could feel Rin's in a cave and three enemy shinobi, one right by her and the other two scouting. Sickly deja Vu poured over him in a wave of nausea, and if he hadn't been on a mission, he might have hurled at the similarities. Only this time, he didn't have Obito by his side.

It felt like shrapnel was working its way through Kakashi's heart, but he pushed on. He couldn't allow himself to be emotionally compromised (more than he was already).

With silent steps and suppressed chakra, he followed the two other chakras who were making their way back towards the other and Rin. He faintly grimaced. Not good. He needed to kill them before the lone one noticed.

Kakashi paused on the bow of a tree to watch the two Kiri nins pick their way through the thick roots on the ground. It was odd that they were traveling together and not separate to cover more ground, so it was entirely possible that this was a trap, but even if it was, his mission was to retrieve Rin alive and return her to Konoha. He couldn't afford to hesitate.

Angling his body away from the light, he unsheathed his tantō slowly as to not make any noise or reflect light. Steeling himself, he striked.

Kakashi drove his tantō through the back of one shinobi and landed on the corpse, twisting to strike out at the other's throat so they couldn't scream. His bare jab connected and the Kiri nin made a choking sound, stumbling back and Kakashi yanked his tantō out and advanced. They brought out a kunai and swiped it in front of themselves, Kakashi ducking swiftly underneath and plunging his weapon deep in their gut before darting away to avoid their last ditch attack. The shinobi crumpled and Kakashi felt the last dregs of their chakra flicker out.

He retrieved his tantō, flicking the blood off and onto the ground. He didn't let himself look at their bodies, knowing his mind would replace them with people he knew. He forged ahead, suppressing his chakra again to sneak up on the last one guarding Rin. He'd have to be quick and careful because they undoubtedly were alert and expecting the scouting group to be back any time now.

Sheathing his weapon, he kept to the trees, following Rin's chakra. Her chakra was like fresh garden soil and rose petals, which made it all the more odd that it currently had a hint of an acidic tang behind it.

Kakashi crept to the edge of the cave before forming the proper hand signs, letting the ground swallow him. He'd only learned _Doton: Headhunter Jutsu_ recently, but he'd practiced until perfection. It settled his nerves somewhat to have a few doton jutsus on hand, just in case (there wouldn't be another victim like Obito, not if he could help it). Practically swimming through the earth, it would've been hard to miss Rin's chakra, fluctuating oddly as it was, and maneuver underneath the other one. In a lightning fast motion, he thrust his hand into the air and pulled the Kiri nin into the ground until only his head was above. He slipped out of the earth with ease and knocked the shinobi out with the butt of a kunai. Only once Kakashi was sure they were well and truly unconscious, did he let his attention fall to Rin.

She was lying face up on a raised chunk of rock. He threw his senses into overdrive when he saw that she wasn't restrained in any way. Something was wrong. Going to Rin's side, he fluctuated his chakra to dispel any genjutsu, but she didn't wake. A large round vase that looked like it had seals painted into it was at her feet, but it was empty when he looked so it likely wasn't that. If he'd known fuinjutsu any better he might have been able to identify certain pieces and figure out what the whole was meant for. He'd have to ask Kushina to give him lessons when they got back.

Kakashi slung Rin's arm over his shoulder and put an arm beneath her knees to pick her up. As soon as she was secure, he practically flew from the cave. It would do no good to suppress his chakra with Rin's like a beacon. Whatever they'd done made the sheer massive amount of chakra that resided within her unhidable. They would be coming after him soon. He just had to be faster.

A small groan alerted Kakashi to Rin, her face pinched and twitching. He dropped from the trees to the earth, ducking into an alcove of roots for mild cover. "Rin," he said gently, nudging her shoulder like she was delicately spun glass. "Can you hear me?"

She slowly cracked an eye open, and croaked out, "...'Kashi?" He released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"Yeah, I'm here Rin." Kakashi held her elbow, slowly easing her to stand up. A slice of urgency entered his voice when he felt chakra signatures enter his range, increasing by the half dozen until there were too many to count. "We have to get going. Do you need me to carry you?"

Rin lightly clutched her head once upright, and nodded. "I—...I think I'm okay."

"Good," Kakashi grimaced and pulled her into the treetops, "because they're gaining." It took all of his willpower to not shoot off at a breakneck speed to escape, but to go slower for Rin who had moved her death grip on his hand to the back of his flak jacket. "If we can go faster we can lose them. Once we get behind Konoha's walls we're safe."

Her soft, broken " _No_ " was ripped away in the wind before Kakashi could even hear it, and the duo picked up their pace. They were going faster, but still not fast enough. It wouldn't be long before the Mist nin caught up.

Something flickered off in his senses peripherals, and he quickly sped through hand signs before spinning around and leaping to the ground, slamming his molded chakra into the earth. The solid earth became putty beneath his fingertips, and he pushed outwards until all the earth behind them was mud at least two feet deep, treacherous for shinobi that travel by ground. He hadn't perfected this one yet nor was it his element, so the amount of chakra it consumed was larger than he'd wanted it to be, but he didn't have many options.

Rin had gone ahead, and Kakashi pushed more chakra into his feet to catch up. When he caught up with her, he was breathing harder than he should have been. The stress over Rin, the worry over the new sharingan eye, and his fear were beginning to cripple him, but he wasn't one to make excuses. He had to get Rin out of here and back to Konoha, and like hell would he let anything get in his way.

There was a rise in chakra behind him and he nearly cursed, running through hand seals and turning just long enough to spit a water dragon backwards. A muffled grunt sounded as the water dragon collided with the closest shinobi, but he didn't wait around long enough to find out if it did anything else.

Kakashi did this a few more times when the Kiri nin got too close for comfort, but he was seriously out of breath now. His chakra reserves were practically empty from using too many jutsus that he hadn't quite mastered. Rin looked at him worriedly, looking significantly less haggard than he was, and slung his arm over her shoulder after he'd nearly tripped for a third time.

"No," she said firmly when Kakashi tried to pull away. "I don't care if it slows me down. I'm not leaving you behind. We stick together, got it?"

Any protests he had died in his throat and he nodded, resolutely keeping his eyes forward as to not see her face. He was pretty sure he wouldn't like it. He never liked seeing her sad, and nothing was better at causing that sadness than thinking about how their trio had become a duo.

Obito was a menace even after his death.

They entered a clearing of rocks and Kakashi nearly cursed. They were forced to leave the treetops for even less cover, but they couldn't just go around. The Mist nin wouldn't hesitate to cut them off by going through the clearing.

Kakashi grit his teeth and whispered to Rin, "At the large rock in the center, we turn and fight." She hummed in confirmation, and his free hand drifted downwards to the kunai pouch on his leg.

A few seconds later and "Now!" was the only warning the enemy got before the two of them turned on the shinobi. Kakashi managed to catch the closest off guard with a kunai and Rin threw some on her own. From there it became a deadly game of bob and weave. One misstep, one missed attack, and it was over.

Kakashi managed to keep pace until Obito's eye suddenly began draining chakra rapidly again and he stumbled. A swift kick knocked him prone and he barely managed to roll and dodge the downward strike of a tantō while reeling in the chakra once more. Then it did it again, and again while he was fighting and he was starting to lose what little advantage he had. Rin would be fine until he went down, which meant that he couldn't go down for Rin's safety. But he wasn't winning anymore, and they had the overwhelming advantage. Even though he didn't believe in fate, it would take either a miracle or a really good plan to survive this.

Like fate trying to prove him wrong, a beacon of chakra more potent and powerful than the one Rin was exuding jumped into the fray.

Kakashi had a split second of dread, before the person? being? drove headlong into the Kiri nin and began decimating them. Kakashi had only a half second to assess them before they were swarmed by the enemy shinobi. They had what looked like a teal cloak and long, messy, white hair. In a whirl, two more Kiri nin were dead. In no way was Kakashi going to call this mystery person an ally, but at least their priorities seemed to be with Kiri first and not the two bedraggled Leaf shinobi.

Kakashi reluctantly put most of his attention back on the enemy in front of him, because he unfortunately might not survive otherwise.

Barely a few minutes later, and the Mist nin's numbers had hit nearly rock bottom, most of them taken out by the stranger. Kakashi had tried to keep track of them out of the corner of his eye, but he only had enough energy to keep an eye on Rin and try not to get himself killed in the process.

Rin was winning her fight, thank goodness, but Kakashi… Kakashi was _losing_.

His feet dragged against the dirt, arms slow to react, and large gashes sluggishly bleeding. The painful twinge in Obito's eye was a grim reminder of his situation.

Kakashi was dying.

Unless he managed to change something and turn the fight around, he'd die, and leave Rin as the sole member of Team Seven barely after she'd lost Obito. He couldn't do that to her, meaning he'd have to do something drastic to make sure he won.

Kakashi ran through the needed hand signs, and figured that passing out from chakra exhaustion would be better than dying.

Lightning sparked to life in his hand with the sound of a thousand chirping birds, and he immediately felt the emptying of the last of his chakra. He moved to impale his opponent before he inevitably lost consciousness, but, horrifyingly, _Rin_ _was about to be in the way_. And it was too late to change paths, he still didn't have full control and he was going to _kill her_ instead and _what on Earth was she thinking?_

With an unnatural twist of air, she vanished. Kakashi only had a brief second to feel relief before his hand tore through a chest.

Surprisingly, the mystery man looked more surprised to see a hand through his chest than Kakashi was.

There was a thump as the Kiri nin behind the man fell, apparently having been hit too, but Kakashi stared at the man impaled on his arm. The man who'd just been across the rocky clearing, too far to get close quickly. Or at least that's how it should have been.

He didn't get to think any more about it, because he then predictably collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the thing, Obito, the angel we all know he is, basically writes himself. The occasional push is all that's need. As I was writing though, my brain said, "Let's do a Kakashi pov!" and Kakashi therefore forced himself in, but then refused to write himself like the bastard he is.
> 
> I'll try to update more frequently than bi-annually but I make no promises ;P My attention is a fickle thing.
> 
> Also for those who are wondering about ships that could occur, I haven't quite decided, but as a hint, I'll say Fuck aaaaall the straight ships. The only one that's valid is Minato and Kushina.

**Author's Note:**

> I blame certain fics for dragging me back into this fandom kicking and screaming. We'll see how far I get with this one. Stay tuned to see just how bad everything goes. Just like everyone else, kudos and comments fuel me, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.


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